


The Token Human

by jujukittychick



Series: The Token Human [3]
Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Community: tamingthemuse, Flashbacks, Fluff, Implied Slash, Multi, meddling Cordy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-21
Updated: 2014-05-21
Packaged: 2018-01-25 22:47:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1665302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jujukittychick/pseuds/jujukittychick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Xander thinks back on how he got to where he is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Token Human

**Author's Note:**

> Though there's really no set order to the set, you can consider this the prequel to my other two X/S/A fics, 'Cooking and Other Disasters' and 'Healing Touch'.
> 
> Prompt: tamingthemuse #276 - A journey of a thousand miles starts with a quick stumble  
> Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the computer I'm typing this on and am making no money. Buffy and Angel belong to their respective creators and owners who *are* making money off them. I'm just doing this for my own fun and entertainment; in general, if you recognize something, I don't own it.

They say a journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step, in Xander’s case it had been a stumble, or maybe a trip, but regardless, it had sent him crashing into the new student, Buffy Summers, which had made her drop her bag which had made the sharp, pointy, wooden stake roll out of it and confirm that there did indeed exist vampires and other creatures that went bump, or really grr, in the night. That was the start of everything and the end of everything else. He lost the innocence of childhood, not that he’d had a great childhood or been all that innocent thanks to his parents, and lost one of his best friends, not to age or sickness, but to the end of his own sharp, pointy, wooden stake after Jesse had been vamped and been accidentally shoved upon it. That last startled look on his face still haunted his nightmares at times.

But it had been the start of a new friendship with Buffy, the Slayer, and eventually with her Watcher, Giles. His long time friend, Willow, stayed with him through it all, vampires and demons, a werewolf boyfriend for her, the unattainable Cordelia Chase as a girlfriend for him, new Slayers and Watchers, trials and tribulations, possessions and transformations…blowing up the high school. Then there was college for the girls and a girlfriend and budding magic powers for Willow and a former vengeance demon for a girlfriend for him. There was the Initiative and secret military experiments and a forcefully tamed vampire. The little sister that wasn’t and deranged hell gods and bringing Buffy back from the dead and the death of a mother figure. And can’t forget the yearly Apocalypses.

But through it all, all the ups and downs, the pains, mentally and physically and emotionally, they managed to stay together and triumph…even if he was just the token human of the group. Oh sure, none of the others would say too much about it, but Buffy was the Slayer, Willow and Tara had the mojo, and Giles was the Watcher and was pretty handy with the mojo himself. True Anya was human now, but she still thought more like the vengeance demon she’d been for the past millennia. Xander was just plain old normal vanilla human, nothing special about him.

Then they’d destroyed Sunnydale, the only home he’d ever known, Anya had died and Spike as well, plus several newly turned Slayers. More beginnings and endings that he preferred not to dwell on for any length of time. The rest of the group moved to England to reform the Watcher’s council and begin training the newly created Slayers. He was surrounded by witches and Slayers and had his two best friends with him, but it wasn’t home. Home was back in California in a massive hole in the ground.

He made it a year before he kissed the girls goodbye and headed back to the States. He found a nearby hotel and returned to the crater that had been his hometown, the place where so much of his life was now buried. He spent a week visiting the site, saying his goodbyes and trying to make peace with his past as well as trying to find some sense of where he should go with his life from there. He wound up in L.A.

He did the tourist thing, with all the chaos he’d been dealing with since high school, he’d never really had the chance, but it grew old quickly, not to mention that he was seriously unequipped for the vampires he kept coming across at night. Making a decision after saving yet another unlucky tourist from a potentially painful end, he wound up searching out Angel’s group.

Cordy was thrilled to see him; after their tumultuous breakup, they’d eventually made up and were now closer than ever. Wes was much more laid back and easier to get along with and Gunn and Fred were both pretty cool. And Angel…well, he was still brooding, but they managed to bury the hatchet, and not in each other either. They could actually blame Cordy for it; she locked them in a room and wouldn’t allow them to come out until they’d made up.

They had spent the first hour glaring and blaming each other for their predicament. The next half hour, they’d moved on to blame Cordy which had then digressed into complaints about her attitude and shopping sprees. The half hour after that and they’d moved on to their crushes on Buffy and how they were better for having known her, but better off for not being in a relationship with her. Angel dug out his bottle of good scotch. A little liquid courage later and they were exchanging hesitant compliments. Having finished the bottle, Xander was an employee of Angel Investigations and had a room and a bathroom to himself in the hotel, a luxury after living with the Slayers-in-training in England.

Things progressed, friendships were solidified, monsters were slain and long, lingering looks were being exchanged between him and Angel. They were on the verge of taking the next step and verging into completely uncharted territory for Xander. And then Spike appeared.

There were tears and hugs and lots of researching. Lots and lots of researching. With big, heavy books in funny languages. But Xander had his friend back and Angel had his Childe back and things were good. The long, lingering looks resumed, but now they were being noticed by a certain bleach blonde. The looks began to be intercepted, re-routed, and soon the three of them were almost bumping into things with all the looking at each other they were doing.

Cordy locked them in a room again. She soon got flustered and embarrassed listening at the door and quickly fled to the safety of her desk, warning off the rest of the team. The three of them emerged from the room in the wee hours of the morning decidedly rumpled and mussed and flushed (at least in Xander’s case) with several interesting mouth shaped bruises on their necks. They stayed the rest of that day in Angel’s room, only venturing out for the length of time it took to wolf down some food…they had to keep their energy up after all. Cordy locked the hotel and told Angel she was taking a paid day off. He wished her well and dragged his two new lovers back to bed.

“Hmm, what ya doin’ up, Xan-pet?”

Xander looked over at the sleepy face of his blonde lover, leaning over to brush a gentle kiss against Spike’s lips. “Nothing, just thinking about how I got here.”

Angel roused himself enough to look at the two of them from the other side of Xander, his own eyes blinking heavily with sleep. “I think it had something to do with Spike and me grabbing you and dragging you down here. Why don‘t you go back to sleep? We have to be up early to research.”

Xander chuckled and leaned over to kiss the older vamp. “I will. I just meant in general. Remind me to send Buffy a thank you card.”

There was a long pause as the two Master vampires tried to process his last statement. They’d gotten used to Xander’s odd jumps in logic and conversation, but this one lost them. Spike was the one brave enough to finally ask, “Huh?”

Xander laughed lightly and kissed both of them before snuggling back down under the covers between the hard bodies of his two lovers. “If I hadn’t bumped into her all those years ago, I wouldn’t be here now. Come to think of it, I should probably send jewelry.”

Spike shook his head and wiggled under the covers, trying to get comfortable again. “Nah, send her a gift certificate for shoes.”

Angel smiled sleepily and curled up against the warm form of his human lover. “Better yet, send Cordy to do it, we owe her for locking us up together any way, she can get something for herself too. I can think of better ways to spend our time later.”

Xander smiled, content in a way he’d never been before his relationship with Spike and Angel. Yeah, who would have thought a little stumble could have led him here, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.


End file.
